The Highlands of West New Guinea

A long broad stretch of real estate covers the central highlands spine of West New Guinea. This wide mountain range runs from the Paniai Lakes region and continues across the international border into the neighboring country of Papua New Guinea. 
This book deals with the land and main language groups of the Indonesian side of the island, namely the Amungme, the Dani, the Lani, the Moni, the Me, the Yali, the Ok and the Mek. Most of the Papuan population lives in the highlands. This area was unknown until the 1930s. In the west, or the Dutch side of the island, the first government post of the highlands was located at Enarotali, bordering one of the Paniai Lakes. From there, American Evangelical missionaries pushed their way to the east, proselytizing the Papuan groups until they finally reached the Baliem Valley where the first post was open in 1954.

New Guinea Communications                                                                   v
Foreword                                                                                                            vii
Introduction                                                                                                        ix

1. Geography,vegetation, climate, first contacts
and Christianity…………………………………………….2
Climate changes and the settlement of the
highlands …………………………………………………………….. 6
First contacts with the outside world …………………… 9
Early Christianity ……………………………………………….10
2. Defining the Highlands ……………………………….12
Languages…………………………………………………………..15
Environment: plants and agriculture ………………….17
Environment: animals and hunting …………………….18
East-West differences …………………………………………20
Early Papuans in the highlands …………………………..22
3. The sweet potato revolution: agriculture and
pigs ……………………………………………………………..26
The sweet potato…………………………………………………30
A revolution? ……………………………………………………..30
Pigs …………………………………………………………………….34
4. Differences with coastal cultures and with PNG ……………………………………………………………………38
Contrasts between the highlands and south coast
Papuans ……………………………………………………………..42
The importance of roads …………………………………….46
Political independence in PNG: problems galore but
better than Javanese colonialism? ……………………….48
The information gap …………………………………………..49
Why? ………………………………………………………………….50
5. Tools of a lifestyle: stone adzes and axes ……………………… 52
Two crucial books to understanding stone tools………………….. 56
Geology: a bit of necessary background ……………………………….. 58
The Langda-Sela quarries……………………………………………………… 60
The Yeineri quarries ……………………………………………………………… 61
The Tagime quarries …………………………………………………………….. 63
Of axes and adzes …………………………………………………………………. 64
The demise of stone tools: steel and missionaries…………………..65
6. Trade ………………………………………………………………………….. 68
Limited trade with the south coast ……………………………………….. 70
Trade within the highlands …………………………………………………… 73
Salt ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 73
7. Leadership:pigs and warfare ……………………………………….. 78
Self-made leaders …………………………………………………………………. 82
New forms of leadership ………………………………………………………. 85
Warfare ………………………………………………………………………………… 86
Weapons ………………………………………………………………………………. 89
Changes in warfare ………………………………………………………………. 90
8. Of spirits, kinship, myths and marriages …………………….. 94
Millenarian movements/cargo cults ……………………………………… 98
Myths of origins ………………………………………………………………….100
Funerary rituals …………………………………………………………………..101
Kinship and residence …………………………………………………………103
Moieties and incest ……………………………………………………………..104
Bride price and polygamy ……………………………………………………105
9. The major highland groups ………………………………………. 108
The Me (formerly, Kapauku or Ekari or Mee) ………………………110
The Wodani …………………………………………………………………………113
The Moni …………………………………………………………………………….114
The Amungme (also: Damal or Uhunduni) …………………………115
The Lani (or, Western Dani) ………………………………………………..116
The Dani (also: Hubula or Grand/Baliem/Valley Dani) ……….118